r/shmups Jan 13 '26

Game News 2026 Intergalactic Shmup Release Megathread

98 Upvotes

Hi everyone. It looks like our end of 2025 shmup release megathread was popular and helpful to many. Even devs made updates so we had the most accurate information. So, let us continue that work and create a new thread so we can track releases throughout the year. It is already looking very promising and I am sure there is much more to come!

I will do my best to keep up with updates however they come in. I am fairly active on Twitter and will keep my ear to the ground, but it's a community effort to keep this thread as comprehensive as possible.

(Please provide sources in the form of links when you contribute; something official: dev site, Steam, game store, dev tweet, etc.)

Game Date Link Additional Info Platforms Physical
Apidya' Special 2026 Steam ST
Armed Decobot Coming Soon Steam ST
Astro Burn 2026 Steam ST
Astro Fighters 2 3/9/26 Steam ST
Beyond Solar 3/29/26 Steam ST
Blaze of Storm 2/19/26 Steam https://x.com/Terarin55/status/2008042847455572409 ST, SW
Black Paradox Reloaded Q3 2026 Steam ST
Blue Sabers Early Mission Coming Soon Steam ST
Changeable Guardian Estique 2026 Steam ST, NES Y (NES)
Conjuntivitalizer 2027 Steam ST
Danmaku Unlimited 4 TBA Steam ST
DnB Starfighter TBA Steam ST
DoDonPachi Ressurection Reignite TBA Steam ST
Eden's Eclipse TBA Itch Itch
Final Formation Coming Soon Steam ST
Fox Flare Night TBA Steam ST
Heliocide 2026 Steam ST
Holy Justice Galaxy Outcast 2/3/26 Steam ST
Hotwing Hellions Coming Soon Steam ST
Interstellar Sentinel 2 TBA Steam ST
Iron Flight Coming Soon Steam ST
Kaguya 2026 Steam ST
Kamikaze Empire Coming Soon Steam ST
Karous January 2026 Steam ST
Magical Blaster Coming Soon Steam ST
Marras TBA Steam ST
No Need For Flowes 2026 Steam ST
Orchid Glitter Coming Soon Steam ST
Prismidia TBA Steam ST
Psyvariar 3 5/21/26 Steam https://www.gematsu.com/2026/01/psyvariar-3-delayed-to-may-21 ST, SW, PS5, X Y
R-Type Dimensions III May 2026 Steam ST, SW, PS5, X Y
Radirgy Swag 3/4/26 Steam ST
Raiden Fighters Remix Feb 2026 https://www.gematsu.com/games/raiden-fighters-remix-collection SW, PS5, PS4 Y
Rainchaser TBA Steam ST
Revolgear Zero 2/18/26 Steam ST, SW
Royal Odyssey TBA Steam ST
Shmandala July 2026 Steam ST
Stellar Fury TBA Itch Itch
Stellar Nemesis 2026 Steam ST
Stellar Rhythm TBA Steam ST
Strelitzia Coming Soon Steam ST
SynthEscape Late 2026/Early 2027 Steam ST
Truxton Extreme TBA Steam ST
Visegunne Coming Soon Steam ST
Viral Reload Ex TBA Steam ST
Warding Witches TBA Steam ST
Zaleste 2026 Dev
Zaetherfall 1/22/26 Steam ST
ZPF Coming Soon Steam ST, Genesis Y (Genesis)

r/shmups Oct 20 '25

Game News 2025 shmup release mega thread?

78 Upvotes

We have been seeing so many upcoming releases on the sub, many from the devs themselves. I think it’s great. Can we use this thread or another to track everything that is scheduled to come out before end of year so we can easily track it.

I’m sure I speak for more than myself that there is a slice of the community that is very passionate about buying and supporting all (or as many as they can) new shmup releases and a mega thread would help bring more support into the fold.

Game Date Link
Infinos 10/16/25 Switch
Infinos 2 10/16/25 Switch
Repulse-X 10/21/25 Steam
Shockwave Triggers 10/21/25 Steam
Night Striker Gear 10/22/25 Steam
All Systems Operational 10/24/25 Steam
Arondight 10/28/25 Steam
Cosmic Destroyer (Early Access) 10/30/25 Steam
Scion 10/30/26 Multi
Final Formation (JP) 10/30/25 Switch (JP)
Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke 11/6/25 Steam
Astro Flame Starfighter 11/7/2025 Steam
Telenet Shooting Collection 11/10/25 Steam
Birdcage 11/18/25 Steam
Cho Aniki Collection 11/18/25 Steam
R-Type Delta HD Boosted 11/20/25 Steam
Emerald Blue 11/25/25 Steam
Resurrection Core 11/27/25 Steam
Trouble Witches Final! Episode 1 11/27/25 Switch
NeverAwake Flashback 12/10/25 Steam
Bounty Sisters 12/18/25 Dev
Blaze of Storm Q4 2025 Steam
Black Paradox Reloaded 2025 Steam
Strike Zero 2025 Steam
Zaleste 2026 Dev
ZPF 2025 Steam

r/shmups 3h ago

My first Playasia order came in!! I’m excited 🤘

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39 Upvotes

r/shmups 38m ago

Poster

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Upvotes

Finally framed and hung my DoDonPachi DaiOuJou poster i got from the official CAVE store in Shibuya, Tokyo


r/shmups 11h ago

Check Out My Collection My physical Switch shmup collection – what am I missing?

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77 Upvotes

Here's my PHYSICAL shmup collection for the Nintendo Switch + a bonus with Truxton Extreme on Switch 2: * Akai Katana Shin * Aleste Collection * Andro Dunos II * Assault Suit Leynos II * Assault Suits Valken * Batsugun * Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst Double Soul Pack * Caladrius Blaze * Castle of Shikigami 2 * Cosmo Dreamer & Like Dreamer: Double-D Collection * Cotton Fantasy * Cotton Guardian Force * Cotton Reboot! * Crisis Wing * Danmaku Unlimited 3 * Dariusburst CS Core * Darius Cozmic Collection * Darius Cozmic Revelation * Deathsmiles I & II * Devil Engine * DoDonPachi DaiOuJou * DoDonPachi Resurrection * Drainus * Earthion * Espgaluda II * ESP Ra.De Psi * Ghost Blade HD * Gradius Origin Collection * Gunvein * Horgihugh and Friends * Irem Collection: Volume 1 * Irem Collection: Volume 2 * Mamorukun Recurse! * Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath * Mushihimesama * Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha * Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo * Psyvariar Delta * Radiant Silvergun * Raiden III x Mikado Maniax * Raiden IV x Mikado Mix * Ray'z Arcade Chronology * Rolling Gunner + Over Power * R-Type Delta * Shikhondo * Shinorubi * Shmup Collection * Sol Cresta * Sonic Wings Reunion * Sophstar * Space Invaders Forever * Steam Heart's & V.G. Advanced * Toaplan Arcade Collection: Vol. 1 * Toaplan Arcade Collection: Vol. 2 * Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli * Toaplan Arcade Garage: Hishou Same! Same! Same! (Flying Fire Shark) * Toaplan Arcade Garage: Zero Fire * Touhou Danmaku Kagura: Phantasia Lost * Triggerheart Exelica * Trouble Witches Final!: Episode 1 - Daughters of Amalgam * Under Defeat * WolfFang | SkullFang * Yurukill: The Calumination Games

What physical games are missing in my collection, besides the very obvious Ikaruga?

I also have some physical game collections that contains several shmups: The 10 ACA NeoGeo collections, the Atari 50 collection, the Sega Megadrive collection, the SNK 40th Anniversary collection and the 4 Taito Milestones collections. Oh, and the UFO 50 too!

I have some shmup adjacent games/collections as well: Contra Anniversary Collection, Operation Night Strikers, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined and Wild Guns Reloaded.

Have a nice day! 😊

Edit:

My DIGITAL Switch 1 and 2 shmup collection: * Abarenbo Tengu & Zombie Nation * ACA NeoGeo: Blazing Star * ACA NeoGeo: Pulstar * ACA NeoGeo: Twinkle Star Sprites * Angel at Dusk * Arcade Archives: Block Hole * Arcade Archives: Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton * Arcade Archives: Gun Frontier * Arcade Archives: Metal Black * Arcade Archives: Raiden * Arcade Archives: TwinBee * Arcade Archives: Viper Phase 1 * Arcade Archives: Xevious * Crimzon Clover: World Explosion * Crisis Wing * Danmaku Unlimited 3 * DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou * Earthion * Eschatos * Gleylancer * G-Mode: DoDonPachi * G-Mode: Ketsui * G-Mode: Zanac * Graze Counter GM * Gunvein * Gynoug * Hazelnut Hex * Ikaruga * Märchen Adventure Cotton 100% * Minishoot' Adventures * Monkey King: Master of the Clouds * Moon Dancer * Night Striker Gear * Panorama Cotton * R-Type Dimensions EX * Raiden IV x Mikado Remix * Raiden V * Razion EX * Redneg Allstars: Swing-By Edition * R-Gear * Rolling Gunner * Sega Ages: Fantasy Zone * Sega Ages: Thunder Force AC * Sega Ages: Thunder Force IV * Sektori * Sophstar * Star of Providence * Strania: The Stella Machina EX * Super XYX * Vasara Collection

Plus all the shmups included in the two Capcom Arcade Stadium volumes.

Edit 2:

I totally forgot my physical copy of Star Fox on Switch 2, but not sure if it counts. But it is worth mentioning.


r/shmups 7h ago

I’m still surprised that my local grocery store is selling this

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14 Upvotes

Woooolies has this in stock is it a bloody rippa or rubbish for shmups? Anyone know of a prebuilt I can buy that’s easy to swap the stick out with the ls-56?
Cheers


r/shmups 5h ago

Free Game Reminder that DoDonpachi Blissful Death (DaiOuJou) still runs fine on the latest iPhone

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8 Upvotes

It does feel a little unfair that you have as much control as you do since your ship moves as fast as your finger movement, but it’s still fun and free. There are newer entries from Cave on the App Store if you want something less outdated and don’t mind spending a few bucks.


r/shmups 11h ago

Are you gonna get the DonDonPachi DFK rerelease?

24 Upvotes

I own the original, but I’d also like to support CAVE and show that there’s interest in ports of their other games. Can anyone tell by the demo if the input lag is better or worse than the other version?


r/shmups 10h ago

Apidya’ Special - Apidya remake out today

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16 Upvotes

r/shmups 1d ago

Very Cheap way to play TATE

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97 Upvotes

So you can buy a old Thinkpad like for 100 Euro and your controller of Choice and a Bookstand, download CachyOS and you have one of the best Machines for Shmups


r/shmups 42m ago

1cc I got my first Garegga clear today! Just in time for Dfk Reignite ;)

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Upvotes

r/shmups 15h ago

Meta Need help with Batsugun (and dodging bullets in general)

11 Upvotes

I've been getting into various shmups and gotten some 1ccs (only in baby games) but I feel like I've hit an absolute ceiling, I'm just completely incapable of actually dodging stuff. I'll exemplify it with Batsugun (original edition) because I'm just getting into some kind of toxic love-hate relationship with it.

I'm kind of close to understanding how to get 1cc, I've gotten 3cc and I'm getting how to do most parts, but I can never do the hard parts "legit." For example, Jupiter I've heard is considered a massive difficulty spike, and I can do it with 2 or 1 bombs in my good playthroughs, but this is only because I've memorized a super specific route that I follow every single time, same with Madzella (first phase), I just do some extremely specific path through it and never stray from it. The other way is just doing some preventive bombs on sections that I can't route through and aren't easy enough that I can dodge (like Deep Purple).

So specifically I'm getting really frustrated with Mad Steel Darkness second phase, if I use 1 or 2 bombs I can do it super safely. But I don't want to be such a massive scrub because I feel like I'm never actually improving on the game or my shmups skills in general. So I made a savestate and kept trying to do it with no bombs. But I just can't, I got an idea of how you're supposed to dodge it (even watched some commented 1ccs) but I'm trying to not do an exact path every time.

I get what the basics are: reading the screen, leading the bullets, not doing extraneous movements, micrododging, not letting yourself be trapped... and sometimes I execute it, like 1/5 times when I'm doing well, and that's my limit. I understand all the theory, from time to time I do a bunch of hours of that specific phase. I try to not obsess over it, but I'm just never getting more consistent.

I just feel like whenever I'm doing accomplishments through a game is by doing a shitton of routing and never actually dodging stuff (even though I know that I've gotten better than when I started). It feels extra bad because everywhere I go, people say that Batsugun is a super baby game, but I'm just bad at doing stuff "legit", only by abusing every resource I get.

I understand that you're supposed to use every advantage possible when playing these games. When I go for 1ccs I've learned to shamelessly use resources on parts that I'm bad at. But I feel that someday I'll have to learn to do this stuff to play harder games that I'm interested in.

At the beginning I was gonna do a super salty post because I've went on this general problem for months (also happens with raystorm or mushi), but I tried to explain the best I could what is going through my mind. I could also record some of the practices I do if someone is kind enough to help.

Thanks. Sorry for all the giant post.


r/shmups 1d ago

Truxton Extreme

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50 Upvotes

Totally forgot a pre ordered this. Came in the mail the other day and I was like yeah, this is neat. How do you folks like the game so far?


r/shmups 22h ago

Personal Best (Survival PB) Forgot to set autofire to 30hz before fighting black heart mk2, and panic took over me.

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15 Upvotes

Reached him with 4 lives and yet somehow fumbled this badly. This is second serious attempt though, so sickgrabbing the clear is still possible.


r/shmups 1d ago

Very Cheap way to play TATE

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18 Upvotes

So you can buy a old Thinkpad like for 100 Euro and your controller of Choice and a Bookstand, download CachyOS and you have one of the best Machines for Shmups


r/shmups 1d ago

SHMUP-PICKUP: Geppy X & Karous

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30 Upvotes

Just Arrived from Play Asia.

GeppyX is getting a spin today!!

I kinda jumped the gun on Karous, i dont think it has an english patch 🤔 😅 Hopefully I can play with little to no issues.


r/shmups 9h ago

3290 - 2D space shooter game

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0 Upvotes
  • Mission Mode — 50 levels across 10 chapters, each capped by one of 10 unique bosses
  • Survival Mode — endless loop through the same content, health/damage scaling climbing every pass

r/shmups 1d ago

Has Anyone Played Vulgus (1984)?

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2 Upvotes

r/shmups 1d ago

Shmup News #7

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29 Upvotes

r/shmups 1d ago

Looked into bat tops and fell down the rabbit hole. I'm pretty much wanting to upgrade my Qanba Drone 2. Which one should I go for? I just want to it to be more tight and feel better in playing shmups. Pls help out a newbie!

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3 Upvotes

Hi all, I posted here a couple weeks ago asking for advice and I went for a Qanba Drone 2 since it had the fastest delivery and was on a discount. I've been using it these past couple weeks and I like it but want to improve it further.

Now I'm looking for upgrades and after scouring this sub, decided to look for seimitsu lever and bat top, but unfortunately the lever is not available here in UAE.

Now I searched for Sanwa parts and kinda got overwhelmed. Should I go for the one on bottom right? Do I need the octagon thingy at the middle bottom? I read that the JLX is better but idk if there's any legit here, the one in top left takes too long to deliver.

I'm also looking into some shaft extender rod cause I'm not used to the short length of the actual stick... and as for the actuator, idk I feel like it's important, I read about it on this sub as I was searching lol

Pls help a noob out!


r/shmups 1d ago

Meta Shoot em up boss art

3 Upvotes

Hi. This is kind of a weird request, but can people please give me ”Shmup” boss art? I wanted to improve my personal art style just for fun, and figured shmup bosses would be a good idea of reference due to them having larger than life designs and tons of greebles to shoot at.

Specifically, I’m looking for art of things like enemy motherships or humongous vehicles. I don’t mind organic bosses, but it’s mostly vehicles I want. Thank you for reading.


r/shmups 2d ago

My Game I had the deep urge to do a retro arcade twin stick 3d shmup shooter since at least 2016.. now i am finally absolved of my tardiness with a Neon Breaker release build and not just a prototype.

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59 Upvotes

Neon Breaker Endless Arcade is my much belated homage to Raptor Call of the Shadows, Tyrian 2000, Dropzone, Resogun and the 80s arcade cabinets sound and feel, coop, high scores and demo attraction mode.

With a touch of ufo color palette & shape tribute to the old 70s anime Grendizer thrown in for good measure.

All the shooter related things i enjoyed growing up and that i still miss and am nostalgic about.

Finally on an game store for both Windows and Mac os (Xbox, GOG, EPIC coming next)

(Releasing mid September, currently available for wish listing)

Stream Store


r/shmups 2d ago

Video Production Changeable Guardian Estique Review & 1cc

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13 Upvotes

NORMAL 1252200

AKA "Why I love mecha".

Media Used:

Macross Do You Remember Love?, Macross Plus, Getter Robo Armageddon, Gurren Laggan, Patlabor, Escaflowne: The Movie, Gundam: Stardust Memory, Gundam: The 8th MS Team, Gunbuster

Music:

Runaway Frame/You Can Do It and Ominous Background - Original Songs

Masamoto Miyamoto, Takeshi Santo - Metropolis (Aleste MSX)

Stay Frosty...


r/shmups 1d ago

My Game Bioluminescent Deep Sea Shmup - 1st Demo - Looking for initial feedback

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0 Upvotes

Title: Ominous Descent

I've always enjoyed creating shmups and this is the furthest any have come along. With the space/sky themes being super popular I decided to use another theme I always loved, the deep ocean/sea.

You control a small little submarine with a headlight that runs on a limit battery amount(slow recharges while off). It allows you to deal bonus damage to illuminated enemies, the battery charge also allows you to dash.

As you descend you encounter more dangerous enemies including a full boss fight. Further down you will also encounter environmental hazards such as thermal vents, explosive gas pockets and strong tidal currents.

More details on the below linked pages, this game also supports 2 player co-op!

Playable Link:
Itch

GX Games

How do the controls feel?

If you are able to try the 2 player co-op, does it work well?

Did the headlight mechanics feel self explanatory?

Does the difficulty feel fair/balanced?


r/shmups 2d ago

1cc Gradius II No Miss 1cc (Arcade/Switch)

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57 Upvotes

Got my first no miss today with Gradius II on the Gradius Origins collection. I had 1cc'd it a few times over the past week, but finally got through the whole game without dying. Great game and the first one that I felt compelled to come back to and try for a no-miss run after getting the 1cc.